Hungarian music world

Hungarian folk music is as diverse as the language. According to Zoltán Kodály they are interconnected and developed in pair since primordial times along with folk dance. Still today folklorists roam the Carpathian Basin and its vicinity, like Moldova, to gather yet undiscovered folk songs. The same case applies to folk tales and folk dance. If songs are broken down to their core elements, we may find the universal ancient ritualistic tunes, the most known for this are songs for children. In recent times many bands and artists started implementing these elements into their own music. Like Vágtázó Csodaszarvas (Galloping Wanderstag) playing a remarkable, uplifting, out-of-this-world music. Some implement more Eastern elements like throat singing or shamanistic drums. Zoltán Juhász in his book “A zene ősnyelve” (The Nostratic Language of Music) has published results compering thousands of folk songs form all over Europe, Asia and also the Americas. The end result is that all traces lead back to the Carpathian Basin. These results coincide with those of anthropology, genetics and linguistics stating the same thing in their own fields.

On the banks of Szeret - Zurgó

Go on, go on poor Magyar

Hiding Magyar

Bird of Magyars

Soldier wailing song - Makám

In a green forest I dwell

Captive of the wide world I am - Juhász Réka

Rare Hungarian from Bonchida - Muzsikás

Cold winds are blowing - Muzsikás

It's not the way it used to be - Muzsikás

I'm the misfit - Szlama

I come from Gyula & I'll go, I'll go

You can hurt me baby, can't you? - Méta

Turn my sweet horse - Kallós Zoltán

The most archaic music is that of the Csangó (Chango) nation of Moldova. They are under the constant threat of latinisation and losing their folklore. Have no proper schooling system and are not allowed religious ceremonies (Catholic) in their own mother tongue nor in the literal Hungarian language. Their name is also the oldest version of the Hungarian name, Hung, Chung, Chang. Along with their music and folklore they also nurse the oldest dialect of the Hungarian language, since they have not underwent the linguistic renewal made in the 18th hundreds, for Moldova was not part of the Hungarian Kingdom since the Ottoman invasion.

Tunes from Moldova - Düvő

Nine Carts of Straws - Eva Kanalas

Night is coming, it is darkening - Méta

Devil's path - Serény magyaros

Mud Flower - Kalagor

Shepherding & Up are the stars, up is the sky - Zurgó

My Gregory - Vasmalom

Three Moldovian Tunes - Török Lilla

Love songs of Gyimes - Sárkányfű band

Nice White Shepherd - Kalagor

This map shows the dwelling area of the Csangó nation. In pale yellow are the Szeklers (Székely) of Szeklerland (Székelyföld). The pink areas show the Csangós of Moldova. Also those of green, the Csangós of Gyimes and dark yellow the Csangós of Barcaság.

In modern times the need of going back to the roots increased with the deliberate destruction of traditional culture. Modern means nothing else but that which is apart from traditional, modified. For traditions, customs of ancestors connect the community back to Nature and the wholeness of the Universe. Modernism is a parasitical slavery, lacking spirit and essence.

Not only folklorists have started roaming the homeland for old tunes and tales, but also musicians, giving back to the collective consciousness the forgotten melodies, rekindling the spirit of the ancestors. Some replayed them as they were, preserving authenticity, some molded elements in their own music. The goal is the same, reviving the old spirit, finding the way back to the wholeness of Life.